£80 - £120
Royal Charter, Anglesey, 1859 A brass scale 37cm diameter in oak display case 63x63cm. An iron-hulled steam clipper driven ashore on north east Anglesey during a hurricane that would be named the “Royal Charter gale” after the disaster. The ship was travelling to Liverpool from Melbourne with passengers that included numerous gold miners returning from Australia, some of whom were transporting large amounts of gold with them. The precise number of dead is unknown, but exceeded 450, with just 39 survivors, the highest death toll of a wreck on the Welsh coast. The wreck was a hugely emotive tragedy with resonance among Australian, English and Welsh communities and was commemorated widely. Memorials can be seen at St Gallgo's Church, Llanallgo, where many of the dead were buried, and on the cliff where the ship struck. The aftermath of the disaster is described by Charles Dickens in The Uncommercial Traveller, the painter Henry O’Neil exhibited his work The Volunteer based on the incident, and a recent resurgence of interest is notable among folk singers including, Tom Russell’s Isaac Lewis. The wreck site itself has been extensively salvaged and artefacts widely dispersed to private collections. However, interest remains among divers: Britain’s biggest gold nugget was found there in 2012. The candle sticks issued to passengers and marked with cabin numbers are particularly evocative and possibly could be linked to individual persons on-board.
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